


all those lovely bruises

by cuubism



Series: tumblr prompts [12]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Battle Couple Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Canon-Typical Violence, Devotion, Hurt Magnus Bane, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Light Angst, M/M, Magnus Bane Deserves Nice Things, Protective Alec Lightwood, Wound Tending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:08:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27671138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuubism/pseuds/cuubism
Summary: Magnus has been kidnapped. Alec's ready to burn down the entire Clave to get him back.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: tumblr prompts [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1887421
Comments: 40
Kudos: 263
Collections: Malec Hurt/Comfort Anthology





	all those lovely bruises

**Author's Note:**

> prompt by anon on tumblr:
>
>> may i prompt you something angsty/hurt/comforty involving kidnapping and subsequent aftermath? pretty pls go ham <3 i love ur characterization and writing so much 

Alec’s developed a hyperawareness of where Magnus is in any room. It’s like he can feel him through the air, the subtle vibrations of his being, the warmth of his breath, even without looking at him.

It’s why he knows Magnus _isn’t_ here now. 

“Hand over the data,” the Circle thug in front of him snaps, “or your boyfriend gets it.”

“Husband,” Alec corrects automatically. He still isn’t looking at the guy, subtly scanning the basement for hidden doorways instead, places more Circle members might be hiding. Magnus isn’t here now, but he _was_ here—Alec has a photo on his phone that proves it.

He thinks of it, Magnus staring up at the camera, lips bloodied but gaze all defiant steel, and clenches his fist around the USB drive in his hand.

Magnus isn’t here anymore. But then where _is_ he?

“Even more reason for you to not want him beaten to a pulp. How well can he cast spells without fingers, do you think?”

Alec takes a slow breath. In. Out. Capture the ringleader. Get Magnus. Don’t do anything in the meantime that could jeopardize his safety. They have a _plan_.

“I need proof he’s alive.”

The man digs in his pocket and produces a small object, which he places in Alec’s palm. Alec looks down at it.

It’s Magnus’s wedding ring.

_In. Out._

Alec tucks the ring carefully in his pocket. “That doesn’t prove he’s alive.”

“It proves that we _have him_ ,” the man says, tone harsh. “So you better cooperate. The data.”

He holds out a hand.

Alec thinks of Magnus. Bloody. Defiant.

He hands the USB drive to the Circle member. “As requested. The Institute’s security files.”

_Come alone,_ the message had said. _Your Institute or his life._

“Now,” Alec puts steel in his tone, “where’s Magnus?”

The Circle member starts to laugh.

Alec feels the portal at his back half a second before he hears him.

“You called, darling?”

Alec finally lets out a real breath. He’d suspected, when he realized Magnus wasn’t here, that he might have escaped—but it was impossible to be sure.

“Was the dramatic entrance really necessary?” he asks as Magnus comes to stand beside him. There’s blood still spattering his lips, but he looks unharmed otherwise.

“Of course. What’s life without a little flare?”

The Circle member starts backing away, looking between them nervously. Magnus waggles his fingers at him. His grin is all teeth. 

“Not so bold when you’re not on the outside of a cage,” he says to the man, eyes flashing, “are you?”

The man raises his fingers to his lips and whistles once, sharply.

Doors burst around them and Circle members storm out, just where Alec had thought they would be. Magnus springs into action, magic at his fingertips. The ringleader takes one look at the battle erupting around them and takes off down the corridor.

Alec runs after him.

He trusts Magnus to handle the Circle members. Alec’s not going to let the mastermind of this plot, failed though it may have been, get away.

He catches the guy by an arm as they round the corner and knocks him off his feet. The man has a seraph dagger in his hand in an instant. Alec’s unarmed, but that doesn’t stop him from tackling the guy as he tries to get up.

He feels the blade graze his arm, but he doesn’t care. He just muscles the Circle member to the floor, knocking the blade from his hand, fueled by the memory of that photo. Of Magnus, with blood still on his lips.

Unexpectedly, the Circle member laughs. “All this passion, and for a _Downworlder_. Don’t you know you could do something _real_ with that?”

Alec really wants to punch his teeth in.

“Something real like locking your ass up in the Gard?”

The man just laughs again. “Be a real man and at least threaten to kill me. Your boyfriend said you would, when I gave him all those lovely bruises.”

Alec punches him in the teeth.

_“Husband,”_ he corrects again, though the man’s unconscious now, and can’t hear it.

“Alexander!”

Alec lets Magnus run towards him, making sure the Circle member is truly incapacitated before he stands up. When he does stand, it’s just in time to catch Magnus in his arms.

“Are you alright?” Magnus asks. He’s pressing up against Alec’s body in a way he normally wouldn’t in public, too wary of maintaining his outward strength.

Alec cradles Magnus’s head to his shoulder. “Am _I_ alright?” he asks incredulously. He forces himself to pull away from Magnus so he can look him over. “Are _you?_ ”

As Alec had thought before, Magnus looks mostly unharmed. But the Circle member’s voice echoes in his head.

_All those lovely bruises._

He thumbs gently at Magnus’s bloody lips, tilting his chin up to see where he’s hurt. Magnus lets him, leaning a little into the touch. It’s only when he tilts his head in the light just so that Alec can see that he has a wound at his temple, too, blood matting his hair.

“Right as rain,” Magnus murmurs, eyes falling shut as Alec runs a hand through his hair, carefully avoiding the wound. He sways a little, then snaps back upright. His eyes fall on the crumpled Circle member. “Is he…?”

“Unconscious,” Alec says. “Deserved worse.”

Magnus hums. His hands find Alec’s jacket almost unconsciously, clutching at the fabric. Alec wraps an arm around his shoulders and turns him away from the Circle member, starts to lead him toward the exit.

“Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

“Don’t you have to—”

“Jace and Izzy are right outside with a team. They’ll handle it. I’m gonna take you home.”

“Why didn’t you heal them?”

Magnus had stumbled out of their portal and Alec had caught him. Magnus had tried to wave him off, to say it was fine, but Alec had seen the shakiness of his legs, how his hands had trembled as they’d grabbed at Alec’s shoulders.

So now he has Magnus bundled up in bed, sipping a warm drink, while Alec sits, half in his lap, staring at the dark bruises that litter Magnus’s torso like inverted stars. He’s glad he left the Circle member for Jace and Izzy to deal with, because if Alec still had the guy in front of him he’d have killed him already.

Magnus takes a sip of his tea. His hands are still shaking. “Needed the magic for other things,” he says. “Like breaking through the wards on the cell. Couldn’t risk running out in the middle of a fight.”

“And now you’re out,” Alec says.

Magnus nods. “It’s alright. It can wait until tomorrow.”

Alec shakes his head. “It’s not alright. You shouldn’t be hurting.”

“Alexander—”

“Wait here.”

In the short time it takes Alec to retrieve his materials and return, Magnus already looks like he’s half asleep, his tea abandoned on the nightstand. Alec crawls back onto the bed and crouches over him, cupping his face in one hand. “Hey, don’t go to sleep just yet. Let me look at you.”

Magnus blinks lazily at him, reaching out to touch Alec’s lips. “My Alexander,” he murmurs. “Always taking such good care of me.”

“Always,” Alec vows. He raises an ice pack to press against the largest bruise on Magnus’s chest. “Sorry, this’ll be cold.”

Magnus hisses as it touches his skin, but doesn’t shift away. Alec presses his hand to it so Magnus can hold it there while Alec works on his face.

He dabs the blood from his lips with a wet cloth, then moves to the wound at his temple, gently cleaning it. Magnus watches him all the while, eyes half-lidded, unglamoured.

“So I take it,” he starts once Alec’s finished taping a bandage over the wound, “that drive didn’t _actually_ contain any real Institute security information.”

“No, it did. Giving them something fake would have put you at risk.”

Magnus sits up straighter, eyes wide. “Alexander—”

Alec stares him down until he quiets, then says, firmly, “I would have let them keep it if I had to.”

Magnus grabs hold of his hands as if he needs to stop Alec from going and doing just that. “Alec, you can’t—”

“Magnus,” Alec interrupts, “listen. I’d rather rebuild the Institute’s entire security system from scratch a hundred times than let them put one more bruise on you.”

Magnus just stares at him, looking wild. “It wouldn’t have just been the New York Institute. The whole— _fuck—_ the whole _system_ would have been compromised.”

“Then I’d have rebuilt the whole damn Clave if I had to. Magnus, don’t you understand”—Alec takes Magnus’s face between his hands—“that _you’re_ most important to me?”

Magnus’s breath catches. “You can’t—” he tries to say, but has to stop to regather himself. He touches Alec’s arm gently, where the Circle member’s blade had cut him, the wound now vanished by an _iratze_. “I don’t want to be a weakness for you like that.”

“You’re not a weakness. You’re what makes me strong.”

Magnus just shakes his head in disbelief.

Alec leans in to kiss him, just gently, mindful of his injuries. But Magnus pulls him in closer, kisses him like he wants to add another, better bruise to his lips.

“Let’s go to bed,” Alec says when they part, and Magnus nods. Alec discards all of the medical supplies in the bathroom sink to deal with later, and when he comes back into the bedroom Magnus is lying down on his side. He doesn’t look quite as tired anymore, more thoughtful.

Alec climbs into bed across from him. “Hey. You sure you’re gonna be okay?”

Magnus offers him a weak smile. “Tragically, this is not the first time I’ve been on the receiving end of an egomaniac’s anger issues. Probably won’t be the last, either.”

“That’s not an answer.”

Magnus just shrugs, lips twisting.

“Come here.”

Magnus goes willingly when Alec pulls him to his chest, tucking his face into the crook of Alec’s neck. His breathing is still a little unsteady, his hands clenched in Alec’s shirt, and suddenly Alec remembers—

His ring.

He reaches for it where he’d stashed it on the nightstand.

“Where’re you going?” Magnus murmurs when he feels him move. Alec taps him on the arm.

“Hey. Look at me for a sec.”

Magnus lifts his head to look at him, eyes falling immediately on the ring. He freezes. “You found it.”

Alec nods. He takes Magnus’s hand and slides the ring back onto his finger. Magnus watches him do it, very still.

“You know,” he says, “I didn’t entirely expect to get that back.”

Alec pulls him in close, kisses his forehead, lets Magnus press up against him, despite the bruises.

“Expect it,” he says. “I’m always going to come and get you.”

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](https://cuubism.tumblr.com/) :)


End file.
